Against All Odds
by clemonlime
Summary: Spencer is upset because the way he and Hotch met and started dating wasn't as special as Hotch and Haley's story. Hotch begs to differ.


Reid squirmed under Hotch's gaze as they drove back to the house. He almost had a Spidey-sense for when those eyes were on him; his cheeks would always flush and his palms would get sweaty, even if he didn't originally know he was being given such strict attention. Over time, the symptoms were clear and he could gauge whether or not he should look to the other man and comment on it or stay silent. This time was an exception—he'd never felt this level of intensity on him, especially not in the car, and especially not after he may have made a mistake such as he had earlier in the day.

They pulled into the parking lot and Reid prepared himself for the worst; maybe he'd get a stern talking to, or maybe even Hotch would tell him to gather his things? No, of course not. Reid just needed to take a deep breath, assess the situation, decide whether or not to offer to sleep on the couch again. _Maybe I'll explain myself,_ Reid thought, _I'll tell him I didn't mean to, that it was just my hypothalamus coming up with something to fill the air. It was a primal instinct! It wasn't my intention to say anything that would make you uncomfortable. Yeah. That would be good._

Before he could open his mouth for his introduction, Hotch was getting out of the car and walking to the front door. Reid watched him go in, and he frowned before slowly unbuckling himself and receding from the warmth of the car. The cold of the outside air slapped him in the face and he stumbled toward the house, slamming the car door shut. Everything was spinning. He was worried he might actually throw up; he didn't like when Hotch was mad.

Hotch wasn't in the living room. That was a worrying sign. Sometimes when he was upset, he'd disappear into his study and become a recluse until their jobs called him out again. Reid slowly ascended the staircase, hanging his bag on the banister. He peeked around the corner of the open office, but Hotch wasn't in there either. _A slightly better development,_ Reid admitted to himself.

The next few minutes were a tense time of Reid creeping up to open doorways and peeking inside. Not in the guest room, the bathroom, the other guest room, nor the bathroom inside the guest room. Reid even looked in the closets, which would have been pretty humorous on any other given day.

When he finally found him, he was in their bedroom, shedding the different layers of his suit. Reid's voice caught in his throat as he drew himself in so that he was just inside of the doorway, watching with panicked eyes. He tried to pull himself together. _We've never done anything like that before,_ he thought numbly, _I hope he doesn't want this to be what I think he wants it to be._

It was a sobering thought, certainly, that their first time like that together would most likely be angry and Hotch would probably leave afterward or push him to sleep in the living room. Reid scratched at the inside of his forearm, watching with a dry mouth as Hotch turned to him in only his underwear.

"What are you doing in the hallway?" He asked quietly, kindly. Reid was confused. There wasn't any tone of lust or malice or any mix of the two in his tone.

"I..." Reid covered his eyes with his hands, too overwhelmed to speak. "I don't..."

He felt warm hands around his wrists, tugging them away, and when he opened his eyes he saw the dark brown ones smiling back at him. He made a small yelp and almost fell, but he caught himself.

"We're not doing anything," Hotch assured him, brushing his thumb across the back of Reid's hand. "I want to hold you."

Reid's mouth opened to respond, but nothing came out.

"We need to talk about it," he continued, bringing his hands away from Reid's to begin to unbutton the genius's shirt. "I'd rather we be as close as possible when we do so that you don't think that I'm distancing myself away from you."

Reid nodded dumbly and watched himself be unclothed. It was a nice sight, and usually it wouldn't scare him so much if he weren't so worried about what would happen once they were tangled up under the comforters that most likely couldn't comfort Reid in this situation. His hands shook as he was lead to the bed. He was shifted around and pressed against Hotch, his cheek pressed against the older man's collarbone. He laid there, feeling fingers card through his hair and warm breath on his ear.

"Pirates of Penzance," Hotch murmured against his hair.

Reid tensed. He didn't think he was ready for this. He leaned into the careful movement of Hotch's hand, but couldn't say anything.

"You mentioned it, and you helped us find the guy we've been looking for," Hotch said, his voice filled with confusion that wasn't genuine. "And then you weren't yourself for the rest of the day."

"I was tired."

"You had coffee."

"I was really tired."

Hotch tilted Reid's chin up, "Spencer, what is it?"

"Do you remember the first time you saw me?" Reid asked, his voice small and his body seeming to cave in on itself the longer he stared into Hotch's eyes.

Hotch nodded, an endearing smile on his lips. "I do."

"Do you remember what I was wearing?"

"Yes. You were wearing-"

"The biggest, ugliest brown sweater, ever," Reid finished for him, "and it hung off my shoulders and people kept telling me to get them coffee, but then what did you say?"

"I said," Hotch thought for a moment before nodding and smiling, "I said, _'Good morning, Dr. Reid.'_ And everyone went wild and went to shake your hand."

Reid smiled fondly before it faded and he sighed, "Yeah."

Hotch noticed the shift in tone, "What is it?"

"We didn't..." Reid shrugged and buried his face back into Hotch's chest, "I don't know."

"What?"

"Do you ever regret meeting me like... like _that_?"

Hotch's face changed, Reid could feel the way he shifted, but he had no intention of looking up and seeing what he was emoting. He just hoped it wasn't anger.

"No." He obviously understood the implication of Reid's words, and was hiding the emotion he felt via his voice. That was terrifying.

"I'm sorry," Reid all but whimpered, "I didn't intend to make you angry, I just-"

"Why would I be angry?"

Reid blinked a few times before mustering all of his courage to look up at Hotch. He sighed softly at the sight of such a familiar smile.

"Because I..."

Hotch raised an eyebrow, "Mentioned a play?"

"The play you met Haley in."

The recognition slowly washed over Hotch's features, and he frowned, "You think I'm upset you made a comment that may have lead me to think about Haley?"

"I think that the way we met could have been more..." Reid sighed and shook his head dismissively, "Special."

"Special?" Hotch asked. He wasn't offended, just curious, and even though Reid knew that... he still curled into himself and expected the worse. "You don't think the way we met was special?"

"No! I mean," Reid's face was as red as it had ever been, "I mean, it probably could have been more exciting for you, or whatever."

"Or whatever," Hotch repeated, completely teasing but not allowing Reid to know that.

"Aaron," Reid frowned, his eyes almost watering. "I'm sorry, I just-"

"You think that because we didn't meet in high school, and because we didn't meet in some weird way through chance that how we met each other isn't special?"

Reid thought about the words for a moment before nodding absolutely, "Yes."

"Well," Hotch shifted and propped himself up on his elbow, leaving Reid laying on the pillow with a fear-stricken look on his face, "How many government agencies were breaking down your door for you to join them?"

"Five."

"Okay," Hotch nodded, "And how many of those agencies had their unit chief run all the way down to Nevada to court you into a job?"

"Two."

"One of those was Gideon," Hotch said slowly. "That's a fifth of a chance of us being put in the same unit."

"A fifth of a chance," Reid repeated under his breath.

"I was married," Hotch continued. "To a woman, and I had a child. Then things happened. Scary things, to both of us."

Reid swallowed his embarrassment and his blush began to dim as Hotch looked down to him.

"One fifth of a chance of meeting, and I was married with a kid. We struggled through kidnappings and murders, and we found each other. Against all odds, we found each other." Hotch leaned down and peppered kisses over Reid's cheeks.

Reid laughed and pushed at Hotch's shoulders, even though he loved the attention.

"You're telling me that's not weird?" Hotch asked him.

Reid grinned and buried his face into Hotch's neck, "It's very weird."


End file.
